A day in the life of a English teacher in Madrid

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Our alumnus shares his insider look on teaching English in Madrid

Find out more about the reason that brought Rick to Madrid

It’s morning, 7AM exactly, and the alarm is going crazy. I get up, take a shower, drink up my coffee and run. What´s wrong with this picture? Nothing, absolutely nothing, I love it all.

I get on my bus and the ride is on. I love taking the bus because it circles through the city center and I enjoy the view. Taking the metro is also a possibility but I hate not seeing where I´m going. I am not working at one place since I am giving private classes.

I have a student preparing for his public exams, who apparently isn´t too fond of sleeping so we have our classes in the mornings. So my mornings start with this phrase: ´´Hello teacher´´. Can you imagine anything lovelier?

I always keep it light because I would hate to see my students exhausted after our class. At the same time, I try to spend the class time effectively so every little particle of the lesson refers to a daily topic. This way I make sure the grammar or the vocabulary of the day sink in. Canterbury English School offered me this private teaching class and that´s why we meet at his home. It´s a 20 minutes bus ride from my place. We have already finished looking at separate parts of the exam and we are now working on his timing.

Once the class ends, I head home and relax till my next one which is at 16:00 in Majahadonda, an area outside the Metro zone A of Madrid, to which I get a transportation supplement of 6 euros. These students are twin girls, aged 7, who just need help with their school work. For 30 minutes I help them with their homework and the other 30 minutes we draw, color and play educational games etc. The great thing is that have 3 more classes in this area so I just walk from house to house. I have classes in Majahadonda every Tuesday and Thursday. 2 of these classes are my private clients and the other 2 were again, ever so amazingly, offered by Canterbury English, I was lucky to arrange them on the same days as this area is very far outside the main city.

I usually get home at around 9 or 10 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at 7 on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Friday I only have one class in the morning. So I reach home, relax a bit, call my family back home and go to bed. I prepare for my lessons for the whole week on Sundays.